Joshua Tree National Park

SATURDAY

First day at Joshua Tree, we decided to do 4 short hikes for warming up our legs to much longer trails with dry air. Speaking of the dry air; do NOT forget your water, snacks, sunscreen and actually A HAT! I was like “Oh why does my head hurt?” and realized that I had burnt scalp!
First trail is Hidden Valley! It is a 1 mile, slow and easy pace trail. That was the first trail we actually had seen the Joshua Tree in person. On the West side of the park (and also North) is the Mojave Desert habitat, the East side lies within the Colorado Desert. Without a map how can you figure out where you are? By finding the beautiful wild-armed Joshua Tree! The Joshua Tree isn’t actually a tree, by the way it’s a species of Yucca plan; Yucca Brevifolia. They say the Mojave Desert is probably less than 10.000 years old and everywhere was full of Joshua Trees.
2nd trail is Barker Dam! It was built by cowboys to water their cattle. When rainfall decreased, it dried out in later years. This is a 1.3 mile loop trail but I don’t think this as easy as the last one. With dry and hot air, it feels like longer and much harder. The same trail continues with the Echo Tee trail, if you keep going you can see the petroglyphs left behind by Native Americans. If you do continue the trail, it brings you to other parking lot, just a reminder.

Next trail is the shortest one but also my favorite! And no, not my favorite because it’s short :) Cholla Cactus Garden! 0.25 mile but BEAUTIFUL. Just be careful walking around, it is probably not a good idea to make jokes or run around near the cacti. If you ever get stuck with one of these cactus pines in your body, it’ll be a pain in the ass to take them off! And for a bonus, if you travel between April-June, you are able to see the little flowers on them.

The last stop for the first day is the Arch Rock Trail! 1.4 miles and length. This is an arched rock that has been shaped by mother nature, It will always keep changing and bring other unique shapes and forms. Also, if you walk further a bit more, you will see a heart shaped rock too!

*BONUS* Skull Rock and Amphitheatre are in the same area. Amphitheatre is not like the ancient one, it is a new one for nature seminars, so you really don’t waste your time on that. Skull Rock literally can be seen while you’re driving and if you do want to take a picture of it, you can just pull over and take it. You don’t need to walk for it, it can be tricky because the beginning point is at the camp site, called Skull Rock trail.

SUNDAY

Today we went to our longest hike; it is not the longest one in Joshua Tree but it was ours. Willow Hole, Boy Scout Trail! This trail is 7.2 mile total and takes 3,5-4 hours and no pets are allowed here. Definitely need lots of water and snacks. You can always bring a beer to drink at the end of the trail to prepare yourself for the way back. This is an easy, flat trail but at some point you start walking in the sand, so that can be a little tough. Also it is really not cool when the rocks sneaks into your shoes!!
The trail is forks in 2 different ways close to the beginning point; right is going to Boycott and left is Indian Cave, which you can also camping, and is also 6 miles one way! If you say, “I don’t wanna walk but it would be cool to camp there”, yay you’re in luck because you can drive up there too!

OKAY! STOP SCROLLING! PAY ATTENTION BELOW!

〰️

OKAY! STOP SCROLLING! PAY ATTENTION BELOW! 〰️

We initially didn’t add Hall Of Horror to the list, BUT NOBODY TOLD ME THAT IT WAS AWESOME! You can see this place as well as the others, like a bunch of big rocks all together, BUT you can actually play around in these rocks!
Follow the first trail from the beginning until you see an arrow on the ground and enter into the rocks, try to find other entrances and exits, just explore every little nook and cranny. Of course, please be careful! The one after we entered was very very very narrow but also it was fun. You may feel claustrophobia at times, so take that into consideration.
We left Joshua Tree again when sun was going down, so I need to remind you of a very important thing here; make sure your windshield is pretty clear! Because you are driving back to the way of sunset and you won't be able to see. Believe me, even sunglasses were not enough!

monday

Next stop was an open air museum. (I know it’s not a good idea when it’s raining, right?) But it wasn’t raining where that museum was…yet ! Noah Purifoy Outdoor Art Museum is an open field of “Assemblage” Art which known as Junk Art. Jonah believed in necessity for art education and he dedicated himself to the found object, and to using art as a tool for social change. This museum is all about recycled materials turning into art. Entrance is donation based and if you check the website, you can donate online too.

“I do not wish to be an artist, I only wish that art enables me to be”

— Noah Purifoy, 1963

We stopped by Garth’s Boulder Garden before going to home. This place is mostly where the hippies are, living in a commune, our host said they also do fire gathering and yoga too but we couldn’t catch it. Also, there are some trails too and they’re pretty good to see Pioneertown from the above.
Today’s dinner was in one of the most popular dinner places in Pioneertown; Pappy&Harriet’s. As soon as you enter your can tell that is a classic desert and cowboy themed place. Food was okay, dessert was really good. Employees are so nice, we had a good chat with them. If you’d like to go there, you should probably get there early and put your name on the list because it is a high chance that there will be a wait. While we’re waiting, went to Target to buy the snacks for tomorrow hiking plans!

TUESDAY

The original plan for today was hiking to Ryan Mountain for sunrise, but the rain hadn’t stopped and we switched it to the sunset. Then, we hit the road to Salton Sea; the biggest lake in California and 3rd biggest salt sea in US.

When you come here, you will see on the map that there are lots of beaches around here. That’s because Salton Sea was a very popular beach place back in the day, but unfortunately pollution is so bad that it is even forbidden to touch the water. It is so sad to see how humans are not good for this planet, the lake still has such a beautiful blue color. I wish we could just know how to protect our home.
When you drive a bit more, you’ll reach Bombay Beach, which was (is) the most popular beach here. They say, Frank Sinatra, Beach Boys…and many more famous people had a homestead here. It was popular until the 80’s, when the lake started being poisonous and people started leaving the area. In 2016 there were only 36 people here, but beginning in 2018 started growing again. You can see the real “Junk Art” here and most people live in their vans or at least everybody has a van next to their small houses.

Don’t forget to look at the beach, because that is the interesting part. They put a lot of junk art, mostly at the beach. It definitely has that Burning Man vibe. In fact, Bombay Beach Biennale has been held here yearly. They call this place; “A Bohemian Playground”.

Sunset hiking on Ryan Mountain was GORGEOUS! We were supposed to eat snacks before hiking but I forgot the snacks at AirBnb, so we started the hike already hungry! Fortunately, that hike wasn't so terrible! The total is 3 miles and even as you climb up the mountain, it wasn’t that hard. We climbed up in 40 and came back in 30 minutes. We also had to wait for 1 hour at the peak for sunset, it was a really fast hike.

when the clock hit 7.02, the sun started going down and out came all the colors! the mountains, trees and the world turned into a peaceful place for a while. It was really windy and cold before the sunset but when it’s gone, everything was pure and soft. BUT still, take a couple of hoodies, sweatshirts, windbreakers or whatever with you. IT CAN BE COLD!